The door to Lauri's room slid open, stepping inside, Lauri wasted no time in flopping face-first onto his bed. The discussion he had with Nama regarding his future activities over the coming month had gone on for much longer than he had been expecting. In fact, by the time he left Nama's office, the sun had set, bringing with it the familiar feeling of power coursing through his body.
Keeping his eyes closed, Lauri remained motionless, breathing in the nice smell of his pillow. After a couple of minutes, Lauri exhaled and rolled over, now looking at the ceiling.
'What a day.'
Touching his face, Lauri yawned.
'I'll be seeing a lot more of Nama, I wonder why she wants to take over teaching all my lessons. Surely it would be good for me to interact with the other Sickly.'
At that moment Lauri felt through his light sense that Gareth and Ashley had returned to their rooms. Scowling, Lauri pulled this sense in confining it to his own room.
'Fine by me, it's not my problem what others get up to. I know they'll just get in my way of getting stronger.'
At the thought of getting stronger, Lauri's eyes slid down from the ceiling to the glowing replica of Lauri's knife lodged into the broken screen. Sitting up, Lauri closely studied the weapon. It was the same as it had always been, a perfect replica of the knife Lauri had lost in the fight against the Fiend that had troubled him throughout his Trial. The Light Stealer.
Lauri stared at the replica of his knife for a moment, holding the hilt, he pulled it out of the screen – bits of broken glass came loose falling into Lauri's lap as the knife came free. Sighing, Lauri stood up, patting the broken glass onto the floor.
Looking at his bed, Lauri scowled, feeling the light reflecting from the shards of glass now lying atop his bedsheet.
'A job for later.'
Turning around, Lauri pulled the chair out, taking a seat at his desk. Holding the knife up to his eyes, Lauri stared at it.
'That thing I did. Moving my sight from my left eye to this knife… How did I do it again…'
Closing his eyes, Lauri focused on his light sense, unlike last time when the knife had felt like a star twinkling beyond his range of perception. Lauri could see the light of his knife clearly, without any strain, Lauri's prescription shifted into that of the knife.
On instinct, Lauri covered his mouth as the view from his right eye immediately changed. Moments ago he saw nothing but the darkness hiding behind his eyelids, now he saw his own face, the sides of his desk, the wall, the ceiling, the floor, the fingers he was holding the knife with. Everything all at once. The sensation was at first sickening, but after a minute of waiting for his lunch to resurface, Lauri's stomach began to settle down.
'What an… Interesting power.'
Now sure he wasn't about to throw up, Lauri moved his hand away from his mouth at the same time. Lauri saw his hand move, he saw his face grow taut in a grimace from the experience.
'What a… sickening power…'
Gently waving, Lauri's grimace turned into a soft smile
'That's not too bad… Once you get used to it.'
Opening his left eye slowly, Lauri felt the uncomfortable feeling resurface in his stomach. From his left eye, he saw straight ahead, the knife in his hand, what any human would see. It was almost jarring how limited the perception of his human eye was compared to what his right eye was seeing at this moment.
'My right eye…'
The memory of the glowing light he had seen when he opened his eyes whilst staring at the floor in the auditorium surfaced in Lauri's mind. Slowly opening his right eye, Lauri was almost in awe at the sight of his right eye. Where his brown iris had been moments ago now his iris was coloured yellow by the bright glow radiating from within his eyeball.
'Wow.'
Pausing for a second, Lauri moved the knife closer to his face so he could get a better look. Moving it slowly so as not to make himself feel sick again, Lauri marvelled at his eye. It was so bright, the dazzling light was actually kind of pretty.
Looking down, Lauri's smile faded, turning into a small frown.
'I wonder… I wonder if Merry would have thought this was pretty, too.'
Lauri massaged the side of his face, waiting for the sad thoughts to fade. Wanting to expedite the process, Lauri summoned another knife. As the knife dropped into his open palm, Lauri stared at it from two different directions.
'It stands to reason I can do this at least twice, right? Two eyeballs, two chances to move my perception.'
Focusing on his light sense again, Lauri focused on the twinkling stars in his hand. Focusing on the star in his left hand, the perception of Lauri's left eye shifted into that of the knife held in his left hand.
Again he saw everything the glow of the knife saw.
'If anything… It feels like I might be seeing too much.'
Lauri's mind was unable to handle all the information his brain was receiving. Two perspectives, two sources of view, and both three-hundred and sixty degrees of perception were too much for Lauri's brain to process.
So the young boy's body reacted the only way it could to such an influx of disorientating information. Recognising what was happening, Lauri immediately dismissed the knives – the knives disappeared in a twinkle of light. Sliding off of his chair, Lauri grabbed the nearby bin.
Putting it to his mouth, Lauri vomited the contents of his stomach into the plastic bin.
Finishing reliving his stomach of its contents. Pulling back from the bin, Lauri recognised the food he had eaten in the cafeteria hours previously. Shivering, Lauri delicately placed the bin back where he had taken it from – careful not to accidentally knock it over.
Grabbing onto the corner of his desk, Lauri leaned forward, spitting into the bin. Reclaiming his seat, Lauri held his head in his hands. Although the initial shock of processing two three-hundred-and-sixty-degree perspectives had ended, his mind was still reeling from it.
'Bad… Bad idea. I understand, that one is the limit. That was a little… Distasteful…'
Leaning back in his chair, Lauri rubbed his forehead.
'Then again, maybe one is only the limit, for now. Laurence and… I guess Granny. They always seemed to be able to process things faster, more competently, just better. I might be a Risen, but I can't contend with what Laurence was.'
Gritting his teeth, Lauri slammed his fist into the desk.
'Whatever the hell Yang is. I really do need to get stronger, so, so much stronger. And there's only one way to get stronger.'
Taking a deep breath, Lauri leant forward, resting his elbows on his desk. Strings of light moved from Lauri's chest, beginning to form the shape of Luminescent Helper. A second later, the inactive form of Luminescent Helper rested on top of the desk. Watching the body of Luminescent Helper move as its wings began to unfurl, Lauri couldn't help but think about how it looked like a beetle.
'I guess it makes sense, Luminescent Helper looks just like the body of a beetle, with no head or legs, just the wings. I did get it from crushing that Lucent Drone Swarm.'
Lauri grimaced before shaking his head.
The chitin covering Luminescent Helper's wings moved, revealing its wings, and a second later Luminescent Helper was airborne hovering in front of Lauri's face. The familiar soft glow lit up in its abdomen.
'Now, practice, slow and steady.'
Closing his eyes, Lauri's perception shifted to the light emanating from Luminescent Helper. Opening his eyes, Lauri slightly laughed, seeing that it had worked.
'It did work, yes! So it's not just my light weapons, but it's any source of light that I have. Although I do understand why it works for my light constructs, I wonder why this power works on my Imprints too. Is it because they are all tied to my soul? Hmm, would it work for Her Aegis too? More things to practise. But for now.'
Moving all of his attention to Luminescent Helper – Lauri squeezed his fingers – giving the Imprint a mental command, Luminescent Helper moved. Fluttering past Lauri's head, it began to slowly move in a circle around the bedroom.
Holding his breath, Lauri let the uncomfortable sensation wash over him.
'Ugh, this isn't nice, although compared to that last experience this is nothing. I can manage this.'
Luminescent Helper moved up and down, left and right, slow and slightly faster as Lauri tested the extent he could have Luminescent Helper move without feeling sick. Opening his one normally functioning eye, Lauri immediately felt sickly, forcing him to shut his eye.
'Not, not again… So I can't my eye open whilst Luminescent Helper is moving. I've just got to take it slowly. I'll work on manipulating my sight, then once I've mastered this, I can work on opening both eyes… Although…'
Holding out his hand, Luminescent Helper landed on Lauri's open palm. Dismissing Luminescent Helper, Lauri opened his eyes, blinking as his perception returned to normal.
Squinting at the keyboard and monitor, Lauri bit his lip as he tried to remember what Nama had told him.
'If I have any questions, I can ask this thing…'
Although for the life of him, Lauri had forgotten how to turn it on.